21st Century Iwo Jima at Where The Blog Has No Name

Written by E Wayne Ross

January 30th, 2008 at 7:07 pm

Posted in Social Studies

28 Responses to '21st Century Iwo Jima'

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this is not funny

zach

7 May 09 at 11:42 am
It’s not meant to be funny.

E Wayne Ross

7 May 09 at 12:09 pm
I think it makes a good statement about US overseas policies in recent times, even if it’s based on conspiracy. I was just researching the battle of Iwo Jima and fell upon this.

Modern War has become so much more than land and power struggles…

Martin Tucker

12 May 09 at 4:10 am
Its been part of our foreign policy since industralization and that’s not recent.

Christopher

19 Jun 09 at 1:33 pm
You have got to be shitting me. You are all fucking stupid. As soon as one of you grows the balls to go over there and see what is really happening you can talk shit. You’re all stupid pricks

Semper Fi

27 Aug 09 at 6:22 pm
you fucken niggers this aint funny

jon nelson

12 Sep 09 at 4:47 pm
Not amusing in the least. I think most if not all who fought and died on both sides on this island would most likely feel the same.

Gene

17 Sep 09 at 10:11 am
Well it’s not meant to be amusing. It’s a representation of what motivates US foreign policy. So if you don’t like it take it up with the folks in Washington DC

E Wayne Ross

17 Sep 09 at 8:27 pm
I apologize for feeling the necessity to disagree with the majority of you, but I would have to agree with Ross on this one. Despite the fact that you may not like the image (or whether or not you served in a recent or ongoing war) this is a fairly accurate depiction of the motivation behind our nations actions. Like he said, take it up in Washington (or call your rep).

voice of reason

23 Sep 09 at 10:44 am
I agree this is not funny. I don’t think it was meant to be. It also is not in any way a negative statement regarding our troops. I believe it is meant to make us think about what the Gulf Wars are really about.

The Truth

23 Sep 09 at 6:31 pm
Jon don’t understand your comments

The Truth

23 Sep 09 at 6:34 pm
i agree with semper fi

jonny

19 Oct 09 at 3:56 am
u retard 976 men fought on iwo jima and u make f-in fun of it u stupid sico

Titanseven

31 Oct 09 at 9:47 am
It’s not meant to be funny. It is an accurate representation of how the US government uses the military to advance the interests of its empire in the Iraq and Afghanistan today.

E Wayne Ross

31 Oct 09 at 10:23 am
This isn’t disrespectful, it’s actually as honest than the photo op of the “real” Iwo Jima flag raising. One only has to see both of the Iwo Jima movies by Clint Eastwood to see that although there are always two sides to any struggle, each side feels fully justified and righteous in their actions. Each side is driven by the same national pride.Unfortunately the horrific outcomes are rarely as euphoric as a soccer game.

And please, lets remember that just a few months later after the bloodbath of Iwo Jima, the US dropped two, not one but two nuclear bombs on hundreds of thousands of civilians of a beaten Japan that was already willing to surrender. There is more shame than glory in war, it’s a business by other means, it’s a chess game by the generals and we are the disposable pawns.

The invasion of Iraq after the punitive strike on Afghanistan really was all about “getting our oil out from under their sand”. That was pretty much admitted as being the real prize later, in spite of all the religious obfuscations. It had absolutely nothing to do with 9.11, since all the plans were already in place, and just like Pearl Harbour, the Pentagon needed a convenient “let it happen” event to shock the world so it could move in for the kill with “full public support”. Don’t say we weren’t manipulated!

Saddam had to go, sure, but that could have been accomplished by a black ops team. The US military machine under glory-seeking Bush then disgraced itself by destroying essential civilian infrastructure,allowing the looting of museums of antiquity, showed complete lack of control over prison guards and private contractors who committed atrocities we still don’t know. The US has lost the moral high ground, and the empire is collapsing under debt as we speak.

That’s the way wars in this world are run, for all the wrong reasons, and that’s why this picture has validity.

dingo

5 Nov 09 at 11:14 pm
This is disgusting, we’re not fighting for the price of oil we’re fighting for the price of freedom. And If the person that posted that can actually say to me that the reason my best friend’s brother had to die in Iraq, the reason my neighbors are coming home shellshocked, and the reason that my cousin had to do the horrible things he was ordered to do all so that you can pay less at the pump! if you can say that to me that says something very sad about this country and what it has become.

Jack

8 Nov 09 at 12:11 pm
Another thing that pisses me off is how all you liberals think you have a right to run this pathetic and disgusting smear campaign against the war even though you all ran to vote for it. I have no problem with disagreeing with and challenging policies and the government thats only first amendment but saying that our boys are dying for nothing is just taking it too far, so next time instead of doing this stupid and offensive shit just write a letter to your congressman.

Jack

8 Nov 09 at 12:17 pm
I’m sorry i’ve posted twice but this just really pisses me off, and the way you distorted the image of one America’s crowning moments that way is also flat out wrong. I have heard stories from marines who went there and even if you think that we didn’t have any reason to go there in the first place you can’t deny that something was going wrong there and it’s good that we’re there now.

Jack

8 Nov 09 at 12:21 pm
BTW dingo Japan wasn’t going to surrender, after we dropped the first one we waited days and days giving them ample time to respond but they still didn’t surrender, all the people who voice there dissaproval of the war in this way are all pathetic little fucks. Semper Fi was right, and as soon as I’m out of school i’m joining up because I love my country and i figure that once i get there there will be a lot less selfish pricks like you.

Jack

8 Nov 09 at 12:25 pm
I’m sorry to post again, but my grand dad served in WWII and my great uncle even fought on IWO and when he came back he was so deeply disturbed that he couldn’t hold a job and my family never saw him again, no one but him knows what he did but it was in the name of this great country and it shouldn’t be mocked.

Jack

8 Nov 09 at 12:29 pm
It is incredible that people have the nerve to not only disrepect those who died in previous wars, but those who died in OUR current war.

This war is not about oil, does the media tell us that we HAVE NOT BOUGHT A SINGLE DROP OF OIL FROM OUR ENEMY? The media makes it look like we’re only there for oil when the truth is that we don’t buy from them at all. We gain no oil from being at war with them.

Robert

11 Nov 09 at 5:43 pm
I believe that it’s the US government that is disrespectful to the troops by using them to advance the interests of the American Empire. The trope that criticism of US foreign policy is de facto criticism of the troops diverts attention from what is really happening. What about the troops who are against the war? You can find a long list of grievances regarding the current wars here: http://www.ivaw.org/

I also recommend reading the work scholar Michael T. Klare, particularly Resource Wars (http://www.amazon.com/Resource-Wars-Landscape-Conflict-Introduction/dp/0805055762) put the current wars into some perspective.

E Wayne Ross

11 Nov 09 at 6:18 pm
Are you retarded E Wayne or just another liberal with his head so far up his ass you has never seen the real world? Almost 21,000 let me say that again 21,000 AMERICANS, Marines and Sailors were killed on Iwo Jima. Today the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima enstills honor and patriotic vigor of those true red blooded Americans who have served or love their country. I find it sad that people like you spend too much time critisizing and will never feel that. US Marines serve today and that picture unites us, remind us of our honored dead and you post it to spread you lies and propaganda. And as for the comment about the US Govt’ is disrespectfull to troops YOUR A MORON…what do you think we are here for why do you think we are called an Armed force? That is our job, that is our sacred duty that we are PROUD of, I don’t care about the 1% or small minority of those reservists and cowards who are against the war. You know what you are doing and your a COWARD! No mater why you believe we are in Afghan or Iraq we are killing those that want to kill Americans period and that is a good thing. When the military isn’t in harms way, the American people are! You should do something constructive towards this awesome country or consider another residence!!

DEVIL DOG

13 Nov 09 at 5:47 am
Mattmuscari@gmail.com, your logic is not very convincing—” we are killing those that want to kill Americans period and that is a good thing.”

Appeals to irrationalities like patriotism, along with name calling, serve as brick walls to any consideration of the realities of US foreign policy and the reasons for the deployment of the military.

I recommend you check out three books by Korean War vet and former CIA-man Chalmers Johnson: Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire, and Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic.

Johnson is no left-winger, he’s about actually examining how the US government uses the military, NOT for domestic defence but for the expansion of Empire. Johnson illustrates that the result of this militarism is more terrorism against the US and its allies, the decline of democracy and democratic values in the US, and a disaster for the American economy.

E Wayne Ross

13 Nov 09 at 8:55 am
Wow thanks for proving the point that you are a coward! Although you just breached your own websites contract by saying that the Mail (will not be published) which I don’t really give a shit less about, but you didn’t acknowledge ANYTHING I just discussed! Still the fact that you will never feel the COMRADERY I felt after I celebrated my Corps 234th birthday ball tonight still saddens me! You will never be a part of anything bigger then yourself and no matter what or how you argue or what you believe you have the men and women with more HEART more HONOR more GLORY then you will ever feel in your nasty body to thank for the fact that you can speak freely and anonymously on the internet! I don’t give a fuck what you say or what books you say I should read…you are a COWARD! You should feel ashamed and maybe one day realize that this is the GREATEST COUNTRY bar non because of those men on Mount Suribachi…Argue all you want but this is not logical, or rational IT is a feeling of brotherhood and loyalty and HONOR! But too bad your a COWARD and will NEVER know this feeling! SEMPER FI, Carry On!!

DEVIL DOG

14 Nov 09 at 7:35 am
“At last a perfect soldier!”

E Wayne Ross

14 Nov 09 at 8:27 am
Why is it that those who crtitcise everything and anything that America stands up for and are so quick to say “we don’t blame the troops” repeatedly spit square in the face of those far braver than they who have sacrificed so much for the very freedom that we all hold dear?It’s become a little cliche, but the statement still rings true, FREEDOM IS NOT FREE.
Never has been, and anyone who thinks we can all sit down at the altar of reason and warm fuzzies and “talk it out” has failed to learn what history has taught us. As long as human nature is involved this will not work. What starts out as a great idea is doomed to fail. There will, unfortunately, always be someone ready to take advantage of others and exploit their trust and goodwill to their own corrupt desires. (Hitler, Stalin, Hussein, Kim Jong Il…) Thank God there are still those who are willing to stand against this and take action when needed! No, America is not perfect (we all deal with human nature too after all), but we still have the greatest country with the best system in place to provide and protect the freedom of the individual in this world!
Semper Fi to past and present heroes of this great land! I have,and always will be, proud to stand in your number! J. Schneider Cpl USMC ‘85-’89

Jim Schneider

15 Nov 09 at 10:42 am
Please may you tell me who is the photographer for this photo?

Nick Tydeman

15 Nov 09 at 2:10 pm